You've Got To Be Kidding Me
by angelic13demon
Summary: "You know about my past." "Your past made you who you are." "What if I'm not happy about who I am? About my life?" "Is it my fault? I never ment to drag you into all of this... None of you." "It's not you, Harry. I was dragged into it the moment I was born. It's me that's the problem. What if I was stronger? What if I was smarter? What if I was braver?" "Then you wouldn't be you."
1. Character Information

**Character Information**

Name: Jezebel Serena Lynnette Winters

Age: 12

Birthday: June 15th

Looks: Pale blondish-red shoulder length hair, dark blue eyes, average height and weight, pale white complexion

Personality: Sweet, caring, brave (except against her step-father), determined, can be real serious, but loves pranks and jokes, very smart, quick to understand, tomboy

Likes: Animals, plants, writing, reading, singing, music, her few friends, the colors black, blue, and green, school, pranks

Dislikes: Her step-father, bullies, perverts, jerks, name calling, rude people, evil villains

Family:

Loretta Maria Darison Winters Gardener (Darsion–maiden, Winters–first marriage, Gardener – second marriage) {mother} [deceased]

Other Information: Her father left shortly after his daughter's birth because he was old-fashion and believed that female children were useless unless they were married up into higher society, but even then they were unwanted. She doesn't know who he was and refused to ask her mother, Loretta, clues to his identity in fear of upsetting her. When she was six her mother married again to a man who soon after became abusive to both Jezebel and Loretta. In fear of the man, Loretta couldn't get a divorce and because of that spent the rest of her days shielding her daughter from as many of the blows as possible, but left her daughter vulnerable upon her sudden death.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One – It Begins**

_Thunder boomed, echoing in my ears… Lightening flashed across the pitch black sky producing an eerie light that only lasted mere seconds before fading away, shrouding my surroundings in utter darkness again… A scream was heard over the pounding rain, its deafening sound rivaled that of the thunder…. My scream was heard before it to faded into darkness… A dark figure loomed over me making my heart beat faster with every single millisecond that passed…_

"_W-what d-do you want from me?" I whimpered pitifully, fearing the answer that was to come as I watched the cloaked man came closer._

_When the man came to stand next to me, he began to mutter something that seemed to be gibberish under his breath in a harsh, hoarse voice. _

_I was forced to clutch my stomach as a sharp, uncontrollable pain erupted inside of it… The oxygen was forced from my lungs and for the life of me I couldn't manage to take any in in its place… I was losing blood quickly from the abundance of cuts along my body… All I seemed to be able to do was try to fight off the fatigue that was overcaming me, barely being able to resist the urge to let me eyes close forever…_

"_**Jezebel…"**_

_I looked up in utter confusion, blinking away the tears that clouded my vision. The voice that whispered my name, so sweet and calm, didn't come from the hostile man in front of me. No, this voice was like a soft whisper on the wind, something that only I seemed to be able to hear. Then the cloaked figure began to speak instead of that voice on the wind I wanted to hear again._

"_I could make the pain go away, little Jezebel. I could make __**all**__ the hurt disappear. I can help you, child," he tempted, his hoarse, sinister voice coated with artificial sincerity and promise._

_How could this man promise that he would get rid of all the pain I felt even when he is the one hurting me at this very moment?_

"_It will go away, but there is a price to be paid for it. You must join me, little Jezebel. Join me, then and only then will you never feel this pain again."_

_I tried to steady my breathing. I tried to speak, but no sound managed to come out._

"_**Jezebel…"**_

_There was that whisper on the wind once again. I closed my eyes, focusing on it and not the figure before me, I began to realize that I knew that voice. No… It couldn't be… It just simply couldn't…_

_I snapped my eyes up, looking wide-eyed in front of me. The cloaked figure was no longer there. No, something…someone else had taken his place. As I gazed at the new form before me everything around me seemed to stop at that very moment. The rain, the thunder, the lightening, the blood running down my face, the pain inside of me… All of it seemed to come to an abrupt halt as I looked straight into the eyes of a person I thought long gone and never to be seen again._

"_Mom…"_

_She smiled softly at me; her warm, loving smile alone was enough to illuminate the dark and dreary world around us. __**"My little spirit…"**_

_Fresh tears filled my eyes, a few flowing over and down my cheeks mixing with the blood that was currently drying. She knelt down slowly next to me before bringing me into her embrace, her movements gentle and graceful in a way only hers could be._

"_**My Jez, my baby… Where is my fearless fighter, my witty warrior, my wild spirit of a daughter? Where has she gone? Why isn't she here at a time when her bravery and courage is needed the most?"**__ she questioned, stroking my blood streaked blonde hair gently._

"_She left with you, Mama… I can't face him alone… I just can't," I said, crying tears of sadness and fear instead of joy as I held onto her as if my life depended on it, which to me it actually did. I knew in the back of my head that the moment she left everything, all the pain and sadness and fear, would return._

_She grasped my chin and raised my head so her eyes bore into mine before wiping my tears away gently before pulling me close to her again. __**"Dear, who ever said you were alone? You will never be alone… Far from it actually."**_

_I pulled away reluctantly to look at her with questioning eyes. "What do you mean, Mama?"_

_She reached over gently placing her soft hand on my blood-covered cheek , carefully brushing of my dried blood from my cheek with her thumb. Her actions caused me to close my eyes, wishing for the moment to never end so I would not have to part with my mother and her caring touch. It was then that I began to feel her reassuring presence to fade as she whisper into my ear one last statement that would haunt me for a years to come. __**"You'll find out soon, my daughter."**_

Shocked, I opened my eyes and looked around my small, dark room, sleep still clouding both my vision and my thoughts. "Just another dream," I thought out loud with a sigh that expressed both my relief and despair. Taking a deep breath in and slowly letting it out, I tried to steady my rattled nerves as I climbed out from under nether my worn sheets.

It's been four weeks since these bizarre dreams began… Four weeks since my step-father moved us to England… Four weeks since I've had this uneasy feeling form in the pit of my stomach that simply will not go away…

I slowly got up from my bed, wincing at the dull throb of my shoulder, before making my way over to the small, crude desk in the corner where I pulled out my dream journal and began to write. I had to write. I needed to get all the details from my dream down onto the paper before they vanished into the abyss that is my mind. This dream, like many before it, contained that strange cloaked man with his harsh, hoarse voice asking me to join him in, but for what and why is always unclear.

However, this one, unlike my past dreams, had been so much more realistic. Frowning slightly, I stopped writing to gingerly place my hand on my stomach. The pain I had felt seemed so real…so painful. The pain that had lingered in my stomach during my dream had been worse than all my beatings combined, but now not a single sign of it was visible or could be felt. Nothing was left, but a fading memory.

A moment later an unexpected bang rang throughout the house startling me from my thoughts. I jumped from my seat in horror, turning my head swiftly to look at the small digital clock on the wall.

"12:16 a.m.," it stated, proclaiming my doom with its eerie green numbers.

"Oh no, he's home! Not good, not good at all!" I thought, backing slowly into the corner of my dim room as I listened to the loud crashes and thuds that echoed through the house until they reached my ears.

Another sound drifted up from downstairs, this time it was the shattering of glass followed by a deep voice shouting, his words being slurred so much that what he yelled was not easily comprehended by people with untrained ears. I, on the other hand, understood perfectly. "Get down here now! You have five minu-"

Before he could even finish that sentence, I leapt from my corner and began racing down the stairs, ignoring the pain caused by my tripping over my long pant legs, fully knowing what would happen if I did not obey quickly. In the blink of an eye, I found myself standing four feet from of him, panting for breath as quietly as I possibly could as to not provoke the man in front of me anymore than he already was.

"Took you long enough!" If his slurred words of rage weren't enough, the way he wobbled his way over to me was enough to proof the extent of his drunkenness.

"S-sorry, father."

The next thing I knew I was on the cold, hard floor, flinching as my hand instantly rushed to feel the radiating heat that poured from my left cheek. The bastard just slapped me! I forced myself to my knees, knowing the consequence of staying down.

"What did I say about calling me that! You refer to me as sir or Mr. Gardener, you lousy little witch!"

I trembled slightly as tears threatened to come pouring from my eyes, but I refused to cry. Oh I wouldn't cry. I refused to give him the satisfaction of that. He could work me like a servant and he could beat me like a punching bag, but I wouldn't let him make me cry… in front of him at least.

"You're useless, you know that?" he yelled, red-faced from both the alcohol and his rage. "More useless than that good for nothing mother of yours! You're lucky I even let you live here, you worthless piece of shit! You would never survive one day on the streets! You're lucky to be alive!"

Yelling and insulting me wasn't enough, it would never be enough for him. He just had to hurt me physically as well. He had to kick me in my side with all his drunken, anger-filled might. I gasped in pain, trying desperately to retrieve the air that my lungs had lost.

"Get up!" he hollered. "Get up right now!"

I nodded and quickly forced myself to my feet, trying very hard not to wince at the agonizing pain I felt.

"Good, now go to sleep, you lousy piece of trash!"

I nodded again, watching as he stumbled his way over to the couch before collapsing on it. After I was sure he had lost consciousness, I slowly forced my sore body to carefully make the near torturous trip up the staircase to my room. When I finally reached it, I quietly shut it in hopes of not waking the beast downstairs from his drunken slumber. Breathing a sigh of relief, I made sure to securely lock it before easing myself down gently to the floor.

For what felt like forever, I sat there letting the tears I had held back escape soundlessly through my tightly shut eye lids. Eventually, those tears dud subside and the only sounds that were left that night were that of the breathing of the man I despised and the gently pounding of the rain outside my window.


	3. Author's Note

Family drama and health issues have drained me for a bit and I just cannot get the energy to write. I get bits and pieces, but the most I seem to be able to do is about a paragraph at a time. I really am sorry guys. Just give me a little more time and I will have something up for you whether it is a real chapter or a sneak peek (hopefully the first one). I do feel really bad about this because I don't even have to energy to write personal messages for each of my stories. I hope you can forgive me. Within a month you will have more from me.  
Love,  
Angel


End file.
